Album: The Five Ghosts *

Song Title

Time

Dead Hearts

Wasted Daylight

I Died So I Could Haunt You

Fixed

We Don't Want Your Body

He Dreams He's Awake

Changes

Passenger, The

Last Song Ever Written, The

10)

How Much More

11)

Winter Bones

Album: The Five Ghosts *

Song Title

Time

Dead Hearts

Wasted Daylight

I Died So I Could Haunt You

Fixed

We Don't Want Your Body

He Dreams He's Awake

Changes

Passenger, The

Last Song Ever Written, The

10)

How Much More

11)

Winter Bones

Performer Notes

Personnel: Andrew Whiteman (guitar); Josh Zubot (violin).
Audio Mixer: Michael H. Brauer.
Recording information: Breakglass, Montreal, Canada (2009); Hotel 2 Tango (2009); Studio Plateau, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2009).
Arranger: Stars.
Returning to work with Tom McFall, who produced the group's 2005 album Set Yourself on Fire, Stars recorded their fifth full-length in their home city of Montreal, writing together as a unit in the studio. Self-funded, as the first of Stars' releases for their own Soft Revolution Records, The Five Ghosts finds the fivesome mainly playing it safe. As suggested by the title, the album involves a loose concept about ghosts, with songs like "I Died So I Could Haunt You" and "He Dreams He's Awake," as it tips back and forth between melancholy yet shiny ballads and saturated dance music. Beats recall Postal Service's Give Up, with added `80s glitter courtesy of some newly acquired synthesizers and drum programs, but with the exception of a few catchy choruses -- particularly on "Fixed" and "We Don't Want Your Body" -- the album is less single-driven than prior outings. Still, fans will find a lot to like. ~ Jason Lymangrover

Professional Reviews

Spin - "GHOSTS' flowing, synth-backed melodies are a vast improvement on 2006's hammy IN OUR BEDROOM AFTER THE WAR."

Alternative Press (p.127) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "On the band's fifth studio album, the Canadian fivesome encapsulate a vast range of emotions, shifting musically and lyrically through moody highs and lows."

Paste (magazine) - "Stars' dramatic arrangements remain very much alive here, their instrumentation gleaming -- as always -- with allusions somewhere between New Order's shimmering waveforms and The Smiths' guitar rock."

Clash (magazine) - "'Wasted Daylight', a sugary, ambient number, offers a particularly sublime performance from Millan..."

Uncut (magazine) (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "THE FIVE GHOSTS applies shrewd pop production techniques to their melodramatic indie rock....The hit rate is impressively high."